Staff Member

Copyright is automatic upon creation, but you can register it with the government...it provides with you some additional rights and makes things easier if you want to sue someone. Runs about $400 I think.

Trademarking is how you would protect the name of your product.

Patenting is much more expensive...really needs to be done by an attorney unless you want to spend years learning how to speak and write patent-ese. A good patent attorney will write a provisional patent application for a couple of thousand dollars...$1000 if you're really lucky. A full patent application (must be filed within one year of filing the provisional) will likely cost in excess of $20,000+ in attorneys fees by the time the patent finally issues (which can be many years after the filing).

Copyright is automatic upon creation, but you can register it with the government...it provides with you some additional rights and makes things easier if you want to sue someone. Runs about $400 I think.

Trademarking is how you would protect the name of your product.

Patenting is much more expensive...really needs to be done by an attorney unless you want to spend years learning how to speak and write patent-ese. A good patent attorney will write a provisional patent application for a couple of thousand dollars...$1000 if you're really lucky. A full patent application (must be filed within one year of filing the provisional) will likely cost in excess of $20,000+ in attorneys fees by the time the patent finally issues (which can be many years after the filing).

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Wow these things are crazy.

I've wanted something for a while, (sort of an accessory for different apple products) but couldn't find anything like it, so I decided to make one. It came out really well and I like it. A simplistic design, but it looks very nice! The only problem is that I put an apple logo on it, since I was only making it for myself. But after completion, the logo is simply what makes the item look amazing! Obviously I can't use the apple logo since it is trademarked...but that is what "MAKES" it sweeeeeeet. Oh well...

Anyway, it may be just me that likes it...other people will probably just say that it's dumb...but whatever it made me happy...real happy.

I suggest you do a search on the US patents database to make sure that nobody else has done something like it already.

You will need to file a provisional application, then a complete application at a later stage. You can do it all yourself, but they strongly recommend it be done through a patent attorney. I ended up writing a provisional application for my product myself because the attorney was charging osmething ridiculous and the cost wasn't justified. If you think you can make lots of money from it though, it probably is worth doing it with a professional.

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